Government rules Torrevieja’s payouts to pensioners are illegal

The office of the national Government in Alicante has replied to Torrevieja mayor José Manuel Dolón after he asked about the legality of the payouts the Town Hall has been giving to pensioners for many years. The reply said these payments do not qualify as a subsidy and so are not legal, which concurs with the opinion of the municipal auditor, explained the mayor.

This means that new rules to regulate the payments will have to be drawn up and he said the Social Welfare Department has been working on these and their proposals have been published on the Town Hall website

Dolón said the new rules are “fairer” than just paying the same amount to everyone, and also offer different types of aid and services to those who qualify, with more extensive financial requirements.

With the new regulations the aid ranges from €300 to €2,950, with payments of €500, €1,500 and €2,800 between, according to the type, but everyone will need to provide documents to prove they are eligible.

The mayor assured that everyone will be able to obtain all the paperwork they need to be able to get paid before the end of 2016. He said he would have liked to have made last year’s and this year’s payouts under the old system “so as not to have let down many senior people’s expectations who were waiting to receive this aid, and to have started 2017 with the new, fairer, more efficient and charitable system, and we tried to do this right up to the last moment… but it was not possible”.

Dolón insisted that his priority now is to make sure everybody knows about the new rules so he and Councillor África Celdrán will be visiting homes and associations for the elderly to explain them.

There is up to €500 available towards tele-assistance, up to €2,950 for residential home treatment and €2,800 for day centre attention. Aid to adapt homes and acquire or repair equipment to help with daily life can be up to €1,500. For medical and pharmaceutical items there is up to €300 and there is also help towards meals on wheels for those who have been accepted.

The application dates will be published soon and all the details can be found at www.torrevieja.com in the section “Ayudas Económicas Tercera Edad”.